Film reviews by nationality

Thursday, January 24, 2008

For the United Nations (UN), combating racism and intolerance with a conference looks like a good idea. However, it's a waste of time, because some invited countries are not mature enough to understand anti-racism.

This is why Jason Kenney, Canada's state secretary for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, made a good move by announcing that Canada will not attend to the Durban II conference next year. By trying to organize Durban II, the UN has just sullied its reputation as a defender of universal values.

Moreover, because of some Arabic and other Muslim countries' presence, don't expect to see anything new. Indeed, it's obvious that they're going to gang up in order to build their anti-Israel rhetoric. Of course, rationally criticizing Israel's foreign policy is one thing. However, insulting people just because they're Jews is another thing. Attending to Durban II will be like watching a political freak show, because nothing tells us that the representative of Libya (the chair of the gathering) will dare to call out countries that are openly racist.

Obviously, the presence of some Eastern countries will just be a mockery to what this conference is supposed to promote, which is tolerance. After all, when I look at my parents (who are Vietnamese immigrants), I find it sad that in Eastern countries, people are taught that it is okay to be a racist and an ethnic nationalist.

Whoops, isn't it incorrect to say that Eastern countries are twice as racist as most of us, Westerners, actually are? Political correctness, here I come!

The moral of this story is that, we Westerners are just making fools of ourselves by expecting countries from the East to change. Maybe, it's about time that we stop being complacent with them. As opposed to Eastern countries, we've been trying, since the 1960s, to promote anti-racism.

And what were some Eastern countries doing while we kept our arms opened to international immigration? They were, for instance, equipping themselves with a persecution policy against their ethnic minorities or treating them like second-class citizens. Without trivializing some acts of hatred that we see in Western countries, a quick research in the archives of Human Right Watch or Amnesty International reveals us that most acts of racism come from the East.

For the United Nations (UN), combating racism and intolerance with a conference looks like a good idea. However, it's a waste of time, because some invited countries are not mature enough to understand anti-racism.

This is why Jason Kenney, Canada's state secretary for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, made a good move by announcing that Canada will not attend to the Durban II conference next year. By trying to organize Durban II, the UN has just sullied its reputation as a defender of universal values.

Moreover, because of some Arabic and other Muslim countries' presence, don't expect to see anything new. Indeed, it's obvious that they're going to gang up in order to build their anti-Israel rhetoric. Of course, rationally criticizing Israel's foreign policy is one thing. However, insulting people just because they're Jews is another thing. Attending to Durban II will be like watching a political freak show, because nothing tells us that the representative of Libya (the chair of the gathering) will dare to call out countries that are openly racist.

Obviously, the presence of some Eastern countries will just be a mockery to what this conference is supposed to promote, which is tolerance. After all, when I look at my parents (who are Vietnamese immigrants), I find it sad that in Eastern countries, people are taught that it is okay to be a racist and an ethnic nationalist.

Whoops, isn't it incorrect to say that Eastern countries are twice as racist as most of us, Westerners, actually are? Political correctness, here I come!

The moral of this story is that, we Westerners are just making fools of ourselves by expecting countries from the East to change. Maybe, it's about time that we stop being complacent with them. As opposed to Eastern countries, we've been trying, since the 1960s, to promote anti-racism.

And what were some Eastern countries doing while we kept our arms opened to international immigration? They were, for instance, equipping themselves with a persecution policy against their ethnic minorities or treating them like second-class citizens. Without trivializing some acts of hatred that we see in Western countries, a quick research in the archives of Human Right Watch or Amnesty International reveals us that most acts of racism come from the East.